An Outer Banks native, Courtney Hathaway has been providing Family Beach Portrait and Destination Wedding Photography services on the Outer Banks for over 10 years. Learn how you can have your Outer Banks memories preserved!

At the end of the summer when all our vacationers have gone home, and the beach gets quiet, we get to work in the office. Since my summer is spent photographing my wonderful families for their Outer Banks Beach Portraits, and the the fall is spent fulfilling print and holiday card orders, the winter is the time you’ll find most of us OBXers heading out on vacation. Every winter I spend time in beautiful Isla Mujeres, Mexico. Isla is a small island just off the coast of Cancun, which requires a 20 minutes ferry ride, and once there you feel like you are in a whole different world. The majority of the island is seen by golf cart or moped, and only some locals and the taxi cab drivers have cars. Isla Mujeres is also the spot for world class Sailfishing during January – March….and one of the reasons why I venture down each winter. My hunny bunny (he’ll be pleased I called him that) is a captain on a sportfishing boat and Isla is one of their winter destinations.

I absolutely love it there, it’s one of my favorite places. While there, Rob has an extra mate (who helps them take care of the boat), Miguel. Miguel is like family and has been fishing with Rob and his mate Tommy for years. He lives most of the year in Cozumel, and travels to Isla to fish with Rob when the boat is in town. While I was in town we decided to make the trip back home to Cozumel with Miguel to spend time with his family and see the sights. It was an amazing trip, and I can’t wait to go back and spend more than a day. I’ll be honest – when I heard there was a bus involved I wasn’t too excited but our “bus” was like a luxury cruiser and much nicer than any charter bus I’ve been on in the US. Two ferry rides, a cab ride, and a bus ride later we were in Cozumel where Miguel’s whole family came to pick us up. I keep telling myself this is going to be the year I learn Spanish – I need to make it happen. It was a long day with Miguel’s family that didn’t speak English, and us who didn’t speak Spanish.

I could have just eaten this kid up! Miguel’s nephew, like most 3 year olds, was WIDE OPEN!

This one gets my vote for Tommy’s holiday card this year. 🙂

One thing I love the most about being in Mexico is just how important family is to them. They have such a strong sense of family, and for most, they all live together. Miguel’s family reminds me a southern family – they’ll feed you and make sure you have something to drink even if you aren’t hungry or thirsty…hehe. His mother, daughter, wife, and nephew joined us for a tour of Cozumel and a stop for lunch.

And here is the proof that I was actually there. 🙂 It’s not often you see me on the blog because a) I’m always taking the photos, and b) Rob *hates* having his photo taken. Lucky for me I didn’t give him a choice, and handed the camera over to Tommy….he now thinks he’s the next Ansel Adams….HA!